19 UHA Middle School students participated in the Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA) in Louisville on November 5-7.

19 UHA Middle School students participated in the Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA) in Louisville on November 5-7. KYA is a 3-day experiential learning program in which students serve as part of a model state government. KYA offers students the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of issues, develop critical thinking skills, and articulate their beliefs while engaging constructively with their peers from around the Commonwealth. UHA students participated in writing, researching and presenting their own bills in Committees and in the House & Senate, as well as ranking and voting on other delegation’s bills, attending General Session meetings, a trip to the Capitol building in Frankfort to debate in the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate, and some fun mixed in, as well.

UHA won a Delegation of Excellence Award and one of our 8th Grade Delegates, Brianne Lacefield (above) won an Outstanding Delegate Award.

Our Bluegrass Bill Team, which consisted of 8th Graders Alison Craig and Emily Grise and 7th graders, Rheagan Lindsey and Sloan Hampton (pictured above), also was ranked in the top half of the Bluegrass Bills and was debated at the Capitol Annex in Frankfort, where it was only 1 of 14 bills (out of 37) that passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by the KYA Governor. Their bill was an Act to Require a Life Skills Class as a Graduation Requirement. Only a fraction of bills presented at KYA get signed into law, so this was a HUGE accomplishment, especially for our Bluegrass team, which are the younger and/or less experienced KYA delegates. They worked hard and certainly earned this victory.